Sumerians Weekly

Issue 1 : Mesopotamia

Cuneiform/PictographsHammurabi’s Code

What’s Hot and What’s NotTop 10 Broken Laws

Now we’re RollinCrossword Puzzle

The Table of Contents

Cuneiform and Pictographs Page 1Hammurabi’s Code Page 2Now We’re Rollin Page 3What’s Hot and What’s Not Page 4Top Ten Broken Laws Page 5Crossword Puzzle Page 6Advertisement Page 7

Cuneiform and Pictographs

Mesopotamians were the first people to have a form of writing. The first writing today is called pictographs, which means picture writing. They soon got rid of this and invented a new language called Cuneiform, in which they had a set symbol for a word. Since only so many people could read and write, they made it a job and called it a scribe. A scribe could only been hired because of the importance by the upper class, priests, and kings. Eventually there was a code called Hammurabi’s Code (see page 2) written in Cuneiform.

Cuneiform Pictographs and Meanings

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Hammurabi’s Code

Hammurabi’s Code was really bent on bringing the people together as a group. A law would be if a son strikes his father his hands will be hewn (or cut off). If you were wondering what Hammurabi, it means the laws for Babylonia. Another goal for the code was to bring justice. It helped give rights to the people and gave punishment to wrongdoers. The punishment was very different for each social class. The lower the social class, the higher and harsher the punishment. It was fair and unfair. It was fair because if you do something wrong, you should get punished so you do right next time and it is unfair because all the punishments should be the same for all the different social classes.

The code of law was set to keep people out of trouble. The code of law was written in cuneiform (see page 1). Every law was displayed on huge pillars near temples called ziggurats. They were also described as laws. One of those laws was the fact that if one man puts out another mans eye, his eye shall be put out. Another example would be if a man breaks another mans bone, his bone shall be broken.

Examples of Hammurabi’s Code

Now We’re Rollin

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Mesopotamians invented many things in the early centuries that were very advanced and that we use today. They invented the wheel and the plow. They also came up with irrigation ditches that branched off from the neighboring rivers Euphrates and Tigris. The plow and irrigation ditches helped the farmers keep the land fertile and to keep crops from dieing. The wheel led to more inventions like the horse-drawn carriage and other different kinds of transportation. These inventions and many others helped the Mesopotamian people get through life easily.

Early Wheels Reed Stylus and Tablet (see page 1)

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What’s Hot and What’s NotIssue 18 : Mesopotamia

Pictographs Cuneiform

Hello! This is your reporter, Joey Clark, bringing you the 18 th What’s Hot and What’s Not. We have found this magazine a big hit and have included our valuable article. This month’s What’s Hot and What’s Not is going to be a switch from pictographs to cuneiform. Instead of drawing pictures, you can draw symbols that scribes study and know. You could be a scribe. You should switch because of the many things that are now written in Cuneiform. All of you have seen the old pictographs and the new cuneiform. Which one do you think is better? So far we have 75% of Sumerians vote on Cuneiform and the other 25% stay with Pictographs. Please submit your answer to office 215 of the Sumerian Ziggurat. “What’s the point of learning a new form of writing when you have one everybody knows?” says Bob Johnson from the Sumerian street. So this our conclusion to out What’s Hot and What’s Not. This is your reporter, Joey Clark, signing out.

Cuneiform Pictographs

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The Top Ten Broken Laws of the Month

1. If he do not till the field, but let it lie fallow, he shall give grain like his neighbor's to the owner of the field, and the field which he let lie fallow he must plow and sow and return to its owner. 2. If he kill the cattle or sheep that were given to him, he shall compensate the owner with cattle for cattle and sheep for sheep. 3. If any one agree with another to tend his field, give him seed, entrust a yoke of oxen to him, and bind him to cultivate the field, if he steal the corn or plants, and take them for himself, his hands shall be hewn off. 4. If a merchantman run against a ferryboat, and wreck it, the master of the ship that was wrecked shall seek justice before God; the master of the merchantman, which wrecked the ferryboat, must compensate the owner for the boat and all that he ruined. 5. If any one strike the body of a man higher in rank than he, he shall receive sixty blows with an ox-whip in public.6. If she is not innocent, but leaves her husband, and ruins her house, neglecting her husband, this woman shall be cast into the water.7. If he put out the eye of a freed man, or break the bone of a freed man, he shall pay one gold mina. 8. If he put out the eye of a man's slave, or break the bone of a man's slave, he shall pay one-half of its value. 9. If a son strike his father, his hands shall be hewn off. 10. If a woman of the free class lose her child by a blow, he shall pay five shekels in money.

Mesopotamia Crossword

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Across4. People who work without pay that owe time and money.6. A form of writing created by Mesopotamians.7. A division of labor is this.8. A lower class, but not the slaves.Down1. A social class of wealth.2. The people who know how to read and write cuneiform3. Picture writing.5. A code or set of laws to bring justice in Mesopotamia.

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